Matt Nagy’s decision-making before Eddy Pineiro missed a game-winning 41-yard field goal on Sunday deserves scrutiny, especially because of the implication the Bears’ coach doesn't trust his players.
But the fact is, the Bears deserved to lose long before Nagy took the ball out of his offense’s hands and Pineiro’s kick sailed wide left.
“It’s not on Eddy at all,” wide receiver Anthony Miller said.
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"I believe in coach and whatever he believes was right, I was down with it," wide receiver Taylor Gabriel said.
The Bears lost this game for two critical reasons: First, an inability to convert three goal-to-go possessions into touchdowns in the first half; and second, the two turnovers committed by quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the fourth quarter, with the Bears holding a 16-10 lead.
This is a game that never should’ve come down to a kneel down decision or Pineiro’s miss.
“Obviously it’s a bad feeling,” Pineiro said. “Lost the game for the team. Put that one on me.”
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The Bears ran a dozen goal-to-go plays in the first half and came away with nine points. The best one of those plays was a pass interference flag drawn by wide receiver Allen Robinson. On the other 11, the Bears averaged 0.27 yards per play.
It was fitting, then, that the Bears were booed off the field even after Pineiro hit a short field goal to give them the lead going into halftime.
David Montgomery ran for 135 yards on 27 carries, easily the best game of his career, and Trubisky largely played well for three quarters. But the inability of this offense to dial up and/or execute the right plays near the Chargers’ end zone cost the Bears far too many points in a close game, really, they had to win.
“I feel like this was the most balanced offensive game we’ve played,” Miller said. “We just didn’t finish.”
Montgomery had one goal-to-go rushing attempt in the first half, on which he was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, forcing Trubisky to clock the ball with one second left so the team could manage a field goal. He plowed four yards into the end zone for the Bears’ lone touchdown of the game to cap an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive to open the third quarter.
Adding to the Bears’ frustration was their inability to even get in the red zone prior to Sunday’s game. This was a team that only had 14 red zone possessions in six games this year, then had five against the Chargers but converted only one into a touchdown (Pineiro missed a 33-yard field goal before hitting three chip shots).
Oddly, the Bears were pretty good at converting their meager red zone attempts into touchdowns before Sunday: 64 percent went for touchdowns, and 100 percent of their goal-to-go possessions ended in touchdowns, too.
“It seemed like they made the plays in the red zone and we didn’t,” Trubisky said. “I thought we had a good plan for this week to get it in there, and they just made plays in the red zone and we weren't connecting. So credit to them. I've got to go back and watch the film, see where we could have been better, but yeah, when we get down there, we've got to have those.”
The Bears somehow managed to fix the biggest issue with their offense (balance and the run game), yet break something else that previously had been working. This is an offense that’s only scored two non garbage-time touchdowns at Soldier Field all year.
It’s Week 8. There’s been much more to boo about than cheer about for the fans showing up for what was supposed to be a Super Bowl-caliber year in the Bears’ 100th season.
And for Trubisky, he put together a solid, efficient three quarters of football — even with those goal-to-go issues — but couldn’t sustain it in the fourth quarter. He was baited by Chargers defense back Casey Hayward into an interception early in the quarter, with the Bears getting bailed out by some self-inflicted Los Angeles mistakes. They weren’t so lucky when he lost a fumble at his own 26-yard line, allowing the Chargers to take the lead with eight minutes left.
Trubisky did make a few good throws and gained a dozen yards on a scramble to set up Pineiro’s field goal late in the game. But by then, the Bears had already left 15 points on the board with Pineiro’s previous miss and then three field goals after getting first-and-goal-to-go. That cannot happen.
So an offense that’s found more ways to lose than win does a better job explaining why the Bears are 3-4 than questionable decision-making or a missed field goal can.
“Unfortunately (Pineiro’s miss) decided the outcome of the game, but again we look back at games, (there are) a lot of different plays and things like that guys I’m sure probably would want back,” Robinson said. “Unfortunately he’s in a position (that) does sometimes determine the outcome of the game. So, again, guys spoke to him. That’s a tough situation.”
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